CANTON — Legend has it that Marion Motley was refused pads at his first Canton McKinley junior high football practice.

By the end of opening drills, other players insisted Motley should have to wear them.

Born June 5, 1920, in Leesburg, Ga., Motley’s parents headed north during the Great Migration, when he was 2 years old. For their son, his football journey would begin in Canton and end there, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“The greatest back I ever had was Marion Motley,” said Paul Brown, who coached him with the Cleveland Browns and against him in high school.

Football historian Paul Zimmerman used that angle to build his case in 1970 that Motley was the greatest player –– ever.

But finding his way would take time.

As a sophomore in 1936, Motley earned a starting spot for a one-loss McKinley team, albeit at right guard. It hardly was the best use of the youngster’s talent.

In 1937, coach Johnny Reed finally moved Motley into the backfield. He responded with four touchdowns in his first two games, then ripped Cleveland Collinwood for 239 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries and fired TD passes of 63 and 36 yards. McKinley roared to eight consecutive victories. Then, in a bizarre move, Reed moved Motley back to guard to make room for previously injured Tip Lockard. Massillon took advantage for a 19-6 win in the finale.

After five years, Reed was fired — largely for not beating the Tigers. But that drew little sympathy from Paul Brown, who teased his adversary at a banquet.

“You know John, anyone who would play Motley at guard should get fired,” Brown said, according to his autobiography.

At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, Motley overpowered everyone. In the 1938 season opener, he ripped off 264 yards and four TDs on 11 carries against Canton Lehman. On 12 carries against Alliance, Marion had 223 yards and four scores (54, 34, 3 and 3 yards), while tossing a TD pass. Steubenville absorbed a full-on Motley, 223 yards and two scores on 16 attempts, not to mention two more TD passes and three interceptions on defense.

But it ended in bitter fashion. Motley was knocked out of the Massillon game by future teammate Lin Houston on a jarring tackle deep in Tigers territory. McKinley had no chance without him, and fell 12-0.

As a senior he gained 1,228 yards on 69 carries (17.8 avg.). He also threw for 454 yards and seven scores. For his high school career, Motley ran for 2,178 yards with a surreal 17.2 yards per carry average. He also threw for 683 yards and 11 touchdowns and scored 174 points.

“Motley consistently has given great performances this year, and is rated by McKinley coaches as the best all-around McKinley back of the past decade,” according to the Repository.

Today, his statistics would have been Mr. Football worthy. At the time, Motley was deemed third-team All-Ohio. One wonders if racism played a factor. His college choice certainly was hindered by bias. Clemson showed interest until the Tigers’ coaching staff discovered Motley was black.

After an ill-fated semester at South Carolina State, he transferred to Nevada where former Canton McKinley coach Jimmy Aiken was the boss. Motley’s debut included two touchdowns in a blowout of San Francisco State. He intercepted two passes, including a pick-six against Idaho Southern; racked up three touchdowns of more than 35 yards against Arkansas A&M; and unleashed an 80-yard TD dash on Eastern New Mexico.

Motley was the star of a 4-4-1 team and expectations were high. However, injuries curtailed much of the rest of his career, with a bad knee slowing him as a junior and a bum ankle the culprit as a senior.

There was a color barrier in pro football at the time, so that seemed the end of his career. But when Motley was inducted into the Navy in 1944, he quickly came to the attention of Brown, who was coaching at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. With relaxed war-time eligibility rules, Motley played for the installation’s football team; Brown used him to rout Notre Dame 39-7.

That following summer, Brown established the Cleveland Browns in the All-American Football Conference. On Aug. 10, he signed Motley to a $4,000 contract. Motley and Bill Willis helped to permanently shatter the color barrier in professional football.

Now at 238 pounds, Marion played fullback and linebacker at a championship level for four years. He was an All-Conference performer in each of the AAFC’s four seasons, and Cleveland dominated the league for four titles. When the Browns merged into the NFL in 1950, Motley left the 4-year-old AAFC as its rushing king with 3,024 yards.

The NFL couldn’t deal with him either.

In his first season, Motley captured the league rushing title and was All-Pro for a team that rolled to a 12-2 season and won the 1950 NFL title.

Unfortunately, the old knee injury flared again in 1951. He never was the same after that.

But the Browns won five championships and appeared in eight title games during Motley’s career. He played nine seasons, gained 4,720 yards rushing for 5.7 ypc. and scored 31 touchdowns.

In 1968, “The Train” was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He died June 27, 1999, as Zimmerman argued, perhaps the greatest football player of all time.